‘Why does BCCI production house call my friends to check on me if they don’t want to give gig?’ Sivaramakrishnan on why he ended his commentary career

Laxman Sivaramakrishnan spent twenty-three years as a cricket commentator but was never assigned a toss or post-match presentation. When he asked a producer why, the answer was direct. “He said, ‘We have been instructed by our bosses not to put you.’ They said it is to do with me not being presentable.” Sivaramakrishnan’s response: “The most charismatic and the best in the business is Vijay Amritraj. Is he not dark?” he tells The Indian Express. The man who took 12 wickets in a Test at nineteen, who stumped Imran Khan in Sharjah while the crowd chanted his name, who was called India’s most naturally gifted cricketer alongside Kapil Dev by Ravi Shastri — says the colourism that followed him through his playing career followed him into the commentary box.